After all the huffing and puffing over the networks' new fall schedules during the last 10 days, one simple fact stands out: ABC is still the place to be when the 1990-91 season debuts. More than 30 new series were announced by NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox.

After all the huffing and puffing over the networks' new fall schedules during the last 10 days, one simple fact stands out: ABC is still the place to be when the 1990-91 season debuts. More than 30 new series were announced by NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox.

Larry Gerbrandt, senior analyst for Paul Kagan Associates Inc., has been named to the additional post of vice president-information services. His new executive responsibilities include overseeing the firm's statistical research and publication departments. Gerbrandt will continue to serve as PKA's chief analyst of entertainment programming (cable TV, pay TV, broadcast TV, home shopping).

The home-shopping craze will get a new wrinkle this summer with the launching of the Fashion Channel, a cable-TV program featuring only apparel, cosmetics and accessories. Scheduled to air beginning July 1 in about 5 million homes nationwide, the Fashion Channel is the brainchild of Charles Gee, a Los Angeles apparel manufacturer who will head the operation at a 300,000-square-foot facility under construction in Carson. He has enlisted two former May Co. California executives--Raymond L.

Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey is elated that his pet movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" topped the Academy Award nominations Thursday with 13 nods, including best picture. But such elation could be tempered by a sobering reality. Although Oscar honors can lead to an increase in ticket sales as moviegoers flock to theaters to see what all the hoopla is about, the boost may not be enough to help make "Button" a financial home run for Paramount.

ABC on Thursday became the second major broadcaster to combine its television network and production studio into a single unit, an acknowledgment of troubled economic times and changing viewer preferences. Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, like all television companies, is scaling back amid a deepening recession. Networks are particularly vulnerable now because their audiences are shrinking and their advertising revenues are falling but production costs for dramas and comedies are continuing to climb.

The info-mercial boom is due in part to a 1982 antitrust ruling against the National Assn. of Broadcasters. In 1983, the NAB dissolved a 30-year-old code, voluntarily obeyed by most broadcasters, which limited the number of commercial minutes a station could air per hour. Info-mercials-commercials that look like news or talk shows-rushed in to fill the void and now account for as much as 50% of local programming, said Assistant Prof.

Cable channel Trio's signature show is "Brilliant But Cancelled," which lambastes TV networks for pulling the plug on cutting edge television. Now the irreverent channel may be getting the hook itself. On Saturday Trio will be dropped by satellite television giant DirecTV Group Inc., which supplies nearly two-thirds of the 20 million homes where the digital channel is available.

The Terminator said he would be back. Now, Comcast Corp. cable TV subscribers can summon him from their sofas. The Philadelphia-based cable giant joined movie company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. on Tuesday to announce the launch of a video-on-demand channel, Impact, solely for action titles like the Arnold Schwarzenegger picture, as well as action-oriented TV shows. Comcast and MGM said they began offering the channel this week. Drawing from MGM's library of 1,000 action movies, including classics such as "The Magnificent Seven" and films from the James Bond franchise, the advertiser-supported channel hopes to attract viewers who don't want to wait for a Netflix rental to arrive in the mail or a programmed cable channel to air their favorites.

Ten-hut! The launch of the Military Channel on Monday proved a boon for armchair generals and fans of corporate warfare too. It came only five days after another network, the Military History Channel, began operating. Both are targeting much the same audience with a similar programming mix and are bankrolled by two of the cable TV industry's biggest and most successful players. Let the battle begin.